SPACE AND TIME

OUTLINE

• The Solar System

• Time and Change
THE SUN

• Each visible point of light in the night sky, except nearby planets, is actually a
sun or collection of suns
• Or rather, our Sun is an ordinary star
• The is dominated by hydrogen and helium at 98% of its mass
• Of course, the Sun provides the light and energy for life to exist on Earth
THE SUN
THE SUN
THE SUN
THE SUN
SEASONS
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Beyond the Sun, there are 8 planets in the solar

system, at least 5 dwarf planets and vast numbers of
asteroids, comets, meteoroids, and moons
• The innermost planets are small, rocky, metallic, and
dense: terrestrial planets
• Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
• The outer planets are much larger, less dense and
gaseous: Jovian planets (gas giants)
• Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• The early model of our solar system was geocentric,

meaning that people thought all objects revolved
around the Earth
• Today we know it is heliocentric, meaning that all
objects revolve around the Sun
• Any hypothesis for the origin of the solar system must
account for as many of its features as possible:
• All solar system objects revolve in the same direction,
around the sun, moons around their respective planets,
and all on the same plane, consistently
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• The origin of the Sun was probably similar to the origins of billions of other stars
in the universe, so the prevailing model for the origin of the solar system is the
nebular hypothesis
• This proposes that a huge swirling cloud of cosmic gas and dust (a nebula) formed
the sun and planets
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
• Gravity pulled the slowly swirling
cloud of dust and gas inward, as this
happened the gas became hotter and
denser
• Eventually temperature and pressure
was high enough that nuclear fusion
started and a star was born: the Sun
• Surrounding the new Sun was a
flattened, rotating disc of gas and
dust
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
• By the time the Sun started
burning, the cooler outer
portions of the solar nebula had
become so compressed that
solid particles and liquid droplets
began to condense from the gas
• These condensates, through
accretion, became the building
blocks of the planets, moons,
and other objects in the solar
system
• Distance from the Sun and
condensation temperatures
explain the distinct materials of
the terrestrial and Jovian planets
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Space missions continue to provide evidence indicating that

all objects in the solar system formed at the same time from
a single solar nebula
• Beyond the end of the nebular hypothesis story, five key
factors played determining roles in the subsequent evolution
of the terrestrial planets
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Melting, impacts, and differentiation

• Colliding bodies convert kinetic energy into heat energy
• As planetary accretion climaxed about 4.56 billion years ago, bigger
collisions mean more kinetic energy and more heat
• Terrestrial planets began to melt, at least partially, and dense
metallic liquids sank while lighter materials floated
• Planetary differentiation by chemical segregation
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Volcanism
• After partial melting, the interior of the planets still remained hot
because of radioactive elements
• All planets are slowly cooling, larger planets slower than smaller planets
• Volcanism is an indicator of high internal temperature
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Planetary mass
• Determines the orbit of a planet, and how many moons it captures
• Determines whether the planet has sufficient gravitational pull to hold onto its
atmosphere
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Distance from the Sun

• Determines if water can exist as a liquid
• Biosphere
• Presence or absence of a biosphere plays an essential role in the development of
the biogeochemical cycles that control the composition of Earth’s atmosphere
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• We do not know if any other terrestrial planets have molten or partially molten
cores, which has provided Earth with a strong magnetic field
• All terrestrial planets have experienced volcanic activity, indicating an internal heat
source, and have been through intense collisions
• Apparently unique to Earth is tectonic activity
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• The outer planets are shrouded by

thick atmospheres that have not
escaped the planets’ enormous
gravitational pull
• Their bulk compositions are
therefore about the same as the
nebula from which they formed:
Jupiter’s composition is remarkably
similar to that of the Sun
• Huge storm systems are common in
the gas giants’ atmospheres, and all
probably have rocky cores
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Moons
• The 19 largest moons are roughly spherical in shape, the smaller ones can be
extremely irregular
• Some formed by coalescence from the same mass as the solar nebula, others by
gravitational capture, and others by collision
• Earth’s moon is 1/4 the size of Earth, making it the largest natural satellite in
comparison with its parent planet, it likely formed from a catastrophic collision
MOON FORMATION
THE SOLAR SYSTEM

• Asteroids and Meteorites

• Subplanetary objects orbiting the sun
• Commonly rocky and/or metallic
• Pluto and the Dwarf Planets
• Minor planets or small bodies that are orbiting the sun, massive enough to be spherical,
but not massive enough to have cleared its orbital path
• In addition to Pluto, are Eris, Haumea, Makemake, and Ceres
THE SOLAR SYSTEM
 THE SOLAR SYSTEM
• Comets, the Kuiper Belt, and the Oort Cloud
• The dwarf planets belong to a group that
includes thousands of other objects outside
of Neptune’s orbit called the Kuiper Belt
• Similar to the Asteroid belt in appearance,
but consists mainly of icey rather than rocky
bodies, akin to comets
• The Oort Cloud is further out still, and also
appears to be a store of cometary material
OTHER SUNS AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS

• Stars are classified by color and brightness

• Color is an indication of temperature,
blue light comes from short
wavelengths and is hot, while red light
comes from long wavelengths and is
cool
• Each color designates the star’s
spectral class, from 9 (hottest) to 0
(coolest)
OTHER SUNS AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS

• A star’s brightness is a function of both the star’s luminosity (energy emitted) and its
distance from the Earth
• This requires a normalization of star distances, which is difficult to measure, but can be
done to 300 light-years
• Once temperature and luminosity are known, they can be compared with values on
the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram
• White dwarfs, main sequence and red giants
 OTHER SUNS AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS

• The H-R diagram can be

used to explain the
evolution of a star
• The smaller the star, the
longer it can live
• For the lifetime of most
stars, a balance is reached
between gravitational and
radiation forces, where it
maintains the stable
luminosity and
temperature of a main
sequence star
OTHER SUNS AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS

• A star the size of our Sun will fuel nuclear

fusion for about 10 billion years
• When the hydrogen fuel is used up, nuclear
fusion ceases, gravity takes control, and the
helium-rich core contracts
• As the core collapses, it heats up, and a shell
of hydrogen in the inner radiative layer
begins shell fusion, the star expands, and
becomes a red giant
OTHER SUNS AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS

• The core continues to

contract, eventually
becoming hot enough for
helium fusion to form
carbon, the shell slowly
diminishes in size
becoming a white dwarf
• Eventually it loses its
luminosity and becomes a
dead star known as a black
dwarf
 OTHER SUNS AND PLANETARY SYSTEMS

• Astronomers believe that

5-10% of the 200-400
billion stars in the Milky
Way have characteristics
similar to those of our Sun,
and it is likely that they
have planetary systems
like our own
• These planets are called
exoplanets, and as of June
2009, 353 exoplanets had
been found
 OUTLINE

• The Solar System

• Time and Change
TIME AND CHANGE

• Scientists estimate the age of the universe by looking at the rate at which
objects are moving apart from each other
• The hypothesis is that everything originated at one location in an explosion
called the Big Bang
• Our universe is 2 to 3 times as old as the Sun and the solar system
TIME AND CHANGE

• To deal with the ages of materials within the Earth system and elsewhere in
the universe, scientists use two concepts of time and age
• Relative age: refers to the order in which a sequence of past events occurred
• Numerical age: is the actual time, in years, when a specific event happened,
calculated using radioactive decay
TIME AND CHANGE
LAW OF RADIOACTIVE DECAY
• Rutherford and Soddy(1902); Von Schweidler (1905)
• Radioactive decay law

• Half life
4 t1/2:
1/16
• Mean life
∞ ∞

τ =< t >=
∫
0
tdN
=
∫
0
λtN 0 e − λt dt
=
1
∞
N∞ − N0 λ
∫
0
dN
TIME AND CHANGE

• Using these tools and worldwide comparison and correlation of rock units,
geologists have assembled a geologic column that summarizes in
chronological order the succession of known rock units
• Major divisions include the Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Mesozoic and
Cenozoic Eons
TIME AND CHANGE
 AGE OF THE EARTH

• Historic context
• Philosophy (Hindus, ancient Greek, Chinese: infinity)
• Biblical chronology (e.g., Bishop James Ussher (1581-1656), 4004 BC,
Oct, 22)
• Benoit De Maillet (1656-1720) and the decline of the Sea (> 2 Ga)
• Cooling of the Earth (Newton, Kelvin, 20-400 Ma)
• Darwin’s origin of the Moon (George Darwin, 1845-1912, >56 Ma)
• The Salt Clock (Edmund Halley, 1656-1742, Joly, 80-100 Ma)
• Sediment accumulation (Charles Doolittle Walcott, 1850-1927, 35-80
Ma)
 TIME AND CHANGE
UNIFORMITARIANISM AND CATASTROPHISM

• In the 17th and 18th centuries, people hypothesized that all of Earth’s features were
formed by a few great catastrophic events - this idea is catastrophism
• In the late 18th century, this idea was tested with geological evidence
• James Hutton, with the use of the scientific method, proposed a counter theory called
the principle of uniformitarianism
 TIME AND CHANGE

• Hutton observed the slow, steady effects of erosion

• Determined that mountains must slowly weather away, that new rocks form from the
debris of erosion, and be thrust back up into mountains
• Couldn’t explain what caused this to happen, but reasoned that everything moves
slowly in repetitive continuous cycles
 TIME AND CHANGE

• The principle of uniformitarianism, which essentially states that natural laws do not
change and therefore the processes that we see in action today have been operating
essentially the same way throughout most of Earth’s history. It implies that “the
present is the key to the past,” indicates that the Earth is incredibly old
• This concept is important to all branches of science, but we also know that some
events are so large and damaging that they can cause catastrophic change
TIME AND CHANGE